VERIFY | Did a Starbucks close after a viral post about a barista tainting white people's food

In it, the poster describes six things she did to white customers in a week including putting bodily fluids in food, animal feces in a little girl's drink and overcharging people who didn't ask for a receipt.

Author:
Kristen Reed

Published:01/09/18

BROOKHAVEN, Ga. -- A screenshot of a post alleging vile, illegal treatment of white customers at a metro Atlanta Starbucks has gone viral.

In it, the poster describes six things she did to white customers in a week including putting bodily fluids in food, animal feces in a little girl's drink and overcharging people who didn't ask for a receipt.

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If the screenshot is valid, it shows that the message was posted in a private Facebook group by a woman named Shanell Rivers who allegedly works at the Starbucks at 3520 Ashford Dunwoody Rd.

The group is called "White People Vs Black People (The Original) and has more than 50,000 members.

11Alive viewers reached out and asked us to VERIFY the post and get answers from those involved.

A Starbucks representative said "This post is completely false. Starbucks does not have a partner (employee) by the name Shanell Rivers. We are working with local authorities to determine how these fake posts were created and circulated."

The representative said that location did close briefly on Sunday but is now open and operating as normal. The company did not elaborate on why the location was closed.

Brookhaven Police Department is also investigating the incident saying "We are working to identify the true identity of the person or persons responsible for the postings so that we can better understand their motives. We are working with Starbucks Corporation and our local retail establishment in this investigation."

Starbucks has been flooding with messages on social media and are responding to them calling the screen shot fake and saying police are investigating.

So, the 11Alive team can VERIFY that this post is under investigation. We cannot, however, VERIFY the validity of the screenshot or that the actions mentioned in it actually took place.